Man Jailed For Life After Stabbing 16-Year-Old

The man who stabbed to death an innocent 16-year-old partygoer in Croydon has been jailed for life.

Carleto Salmons stabbed Wesley Sterling when violence erupted outside a 16th birthday party at the Croydon sports arena last April.

The 28-year-old from Thornton Heath has been found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey.

The teenager had been trying to get back into the party after gang members "rushed" people as they left.

Meanwhile, Salmons, the partner of the host's mother, had picked up a knife from the clubhouse and went to man the doors of the venue.

He stabbed Wesley with a "single deliberate blow" through the heart as he tried to get back inside, the Old Bailey heard.

Sterling was training to be a carpenter and his mother said: "Wesley was an ambitious, well-mannered and talented young man who had the whole of his life ahead of him.

"Wesley had done nothing to anyone in this world to deserve the treatment inflicted upon him. Our hearts bleed to know that at 16 years of age he is lying in a cemetery because of a coward with a knife that took his life."